eminent for a peculiar proficiency in the science of law or of medicine*, the palm of theological superiority was conceded, without any dispute, to Paris. To afford still greater facilities and encouragement to this study, Robert de Sorbonne, a man abounding both in wealth and in piety, the chaplain and friend of St. Louis, founded, about the year 1250, that very renowned institution, which has associated his name, for so many centuries, with the theological labours, glories, and controversies of his countrymen. These few sentences may be sufficient to call the reader's attention to an important and attractive subject, and even to render intelligible such passing mention, as will be made hereafter, of the university of Paris. But as the particulars of its origin, its construction, its growth, and its prosperity, do not strictly belong to ecclesiastical history, we must not permit them to usurp those scanty pages, which may be more appropriately, if not more instructively, occupied.

NOTE (C) ON CERTAIN THEOLOGICAL WRITERS.

The fathers of the early Church were cautious in provoking subtile speculations on the holy mysteries, and seldom engaged in that field of theology, unless to repel the invasion of some popular error. And even then they were usually contented to arm themselves with scripture and tradition as the principles of their defence, reserving the resources of reason for what they considered its legitimate object in theological controversies, the interpretation of the sacred writings. When philosophy was at length admitted to partake in these debates, the method first adopted, as most congenial to the sublime truths of religion, was that of Plato; and if they were sometimes exalted by this alliance into fantastical mysticism, they at least escaped the degrading torture of minute and pugnacious sophistry. But the rival system also found some early advocates †, though insufficient to give it general prevalence. Boethius applied the principles of Aristotle to the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation, thus moving many abstruse and inexplicable questions; and John Damascenus afterwards published a methodical exposition of all the questions or difficulties of theology. In the West, in the ninth century, John Scotus Erigena fell into the same snare; but his method of subtilizing was not suited to the genius of his age; and during that which followed, every operation of the human mind was suspended.

But when reason again awoke, she was straightway delivered into the *As was Bologna, for instance, for the former, and Salerno for the latter. Gratian published his Decretal at Bologna; and the stimulus thus given to the study of canon law continued long to produce its effect. The study of civil law in the same school is dated from about twenty years earlier-i. e. from the discovery of the Pandect. The medical precepts, which issued from Salerno, are said to have been derived from the books of the Arabians, or the schools of the Saracens in Spain and Africa.

To such, and to the errors occasioned by them, is the allusion of Prudentius. Pref. secunda in Apotheosim.

Statum lacessunt omnipollentis Dei

Calumniosis litibus:

Fidem minutis dissecant ambagibus,
Ut quisque lingua nequior:
Solvunt ligantque quæstionum vincula
Per syllogismos plectiles.

Væ captiosis sycophantarum strophis,
Væ versipelli astutiæ !

Nodos tenaces recta rumpit regula,

Infesta dissertantibus.

Prudentius flourished at the end of the fourth century

fetters of Aristotle. Towards the middle of the eleventh century, his philosophy was taught, after the Arabian method, in the public schools; and though, in the first instance, it was confined to the illustration of profane subjects, yet as men became commonly imbued with its principles, and as the whole system, political and moral, in those days, was interwoven with religious, or at least with ecclesiastical, considerations, it was not long before the prevalent system passed obsequiously into the service of theology*. John the Sophist, Rocellinus, Berenger, Lanfranc, Anselm, introduced that method: it was improved by Abelard; it was rapidly propagated in all the schools of Europe †; and its immediate and necessary effect was to multiply, without any limit, the difficulties which it affected to resolve. The objects of the investigation were too immense for human comprehension, yet they were sought by the meanest exercise of human ratiocination. The end was unattainable; and, had it not been so, the means were those least likely to have attained it. Nevertheless, the disputants proceeded with eagerness and confidence; and thus it proved that, in this boundless field, the most different conclusions were reached by paths nearly similar; and that out of every question which it was proposed to resolve, a thousand other questions started forth, more abstruse, more absurd, more immeasurably remote from the precincts of reason and of sense than the original.

To impose some restraint on this great intellectual licentiousness,-to revive some respect for ancient authorities,

- to

erect some barrier, or at least some landmark, for Peter the Lombard. the guidance of his contemporaries, Peter the Lom

bard published, about the middle of the twelfth century, his celebrated 'Book of the Sentences.' Born in the country whence he derived his surname, and educated at Bologna, then more famous as a school for law than divinity, he proceeded to Paris for the prosecution of the latter study. He was recommended to the patronage of St. Bernard; and presently attained such eminence in academical erudition, that he was raised, in the

* Fatendum simul est, (says Brucker, Historia Critica Philosophia), ex quo Philosophia Saracenica seculi xii Occidentis Christianis innotuit, plenis eos amplexibus inconditum philosophiæ genus recepisse, et insanientium more in Dialecticam debacchatos, malum malo augendo ad Theologiam eam transtulisse.' (See Per. ii., par. ii., lib. ii., cap. ii. and iii.) That author shows, that, from the seventh until nearly the twelfth age, philosophy was confined to the possession of ecclesiastics, and to the limits of the Trivium and Quadrivium. The system which succeeded was called scholastic, as emerging from the schools of the monasteries. After the time of Gratian, the study of canon law was very commonly mixed up with it; and the combination of the three incongruities, Canon Law, Scholastic Philosophy, and Theology, formed what Brucker aptly denominates a Triplex

Monstrum.

+ Otho Frisingensis introduced the scholastic system into Germany. That prelate, the son of Leopold, marquis of Austria, and Agnes, daughter of Henry IV., was made bishop of Frisingen, in Bavaria, in the year 1138. He attended Conrad to the Holy Land in 1147, and died nine years afterwards. He wrote (in seven books) a Chronological History of the World, from the Creation to his own time, which is frequently cited by the ecclesiastical annalists.

Among the multitude of these questions, there were some which ended, and after no very long investigation, in absolute infidelity. The Latin writers of the thirteenth age abound with complaints (exaggerated, no doubt, but not unfounded) of the progress of unchristian opinions, directly deduced from Aristotelian principles-that the soul perished with the body-that the world had had no beginning, and would have no end-that there was only one intellect among all the human race-that all things were subject to absolute fate or necessity-that the universe was not governed by Divine Providence, &c., &c. We should observe, that the Aristotelians declined what might have been the personal consequences of these opinions by a subtile distinction. These matters (they said) are philo sophically true-but they are theologically false-Vera sunt secundum Philosophiam, non secundum Fidem Catholicam. See Mosheim, Cent. XIII. p. i. chap. ii, and p. ii. chap. v.

year 1150, to the See of Paris. The Book of the Sentences is a collection of passages of the Fathers, especially of St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and St. Augustin, explaining and illustrating the principal questions, which then so violently agitated the scholastic doctors. The author was cautious in intermixing original observation with the venerable oracles of the early Church; and he trusted, by the ancient simplicity of his work, and his contempt of the fashionable subtleties, to restore some respect for the less vicious system of older times. The intrinsic merit of this production, the talents and extensive learning which it exhibited, recommended it to universal attention; and the Master of the Sentences' long retained an undisputed supremacy in the theological schools. But the effect of his work was not that which he had warmly and, perhaps, reasonably anticipated. The schoolmen made use of his text, principally that they might hang on it their futile disceptations and commentaries; and so fruitful was that elaborate book in matter for ingenious disputation, that Peter the Lombard, so far from having arrested the current, is usually ranked among the chiefs or fathers of the scholastic* theology.

If the dominion of Aristotle was for a moment suspended by the decree of the council of Paris †, (in 1209) which conSt. Thomas Aquinas. demned to the flames his metaphysical works, it was effectually restored by the patronage of Frederic II. That emperor caused numerous translations to be made from his most celebrated compositions, and diffused through Italy, and especially at Bologna, the genius which had hitherto ruled with peculiar prevalence in France. At the same time, a new description of disputants had grown up, for whose character and offices the scholastic method was admirably calculated, and who carried it to its most pernicious perfection. The mendicants now gave laws to the academies of Europe;

*See Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth., Cent. XII. chap. xv. Néanmoins on peut le considérer comme le chef de tous les scholastiques; car quoiqu'il ait suivi dans son ouvrage une méthode bien différente des autres, quant à la manière de traiter les questions de Théologie; son livre leur a tontefois servi de fondement et de base, et ils n'ont fait en apparence que de commenter.

The reason assigned for the condemnation of Aristotle on this celebrated occasion was, that his works had given occasion to the errors of Amalric, and might probably do so to many others. (See Brucker, Loc. cit.) And they did so; but the errors which scholastic subtlety raised, were as easily laid by a different formula of the same incantation-they appeared and disappeared, fleeting, impalpable, unsubstantial. The permanent heresies of the age stood on firmer ground. The grievances of the Waldenses and the Wicliffites were not the creations of sophistry; so neither could sophistry, though backed by persecution, silence the murmurs which they caused.

We should here observe that the popes, however they profited by the influence of the mendicants, were by no means decided advocates of the scholastic theology. The celebrated Epistle of Gregory IX. to the doctors of Paris, contains (for instance) these words -Mandamus et strictè præcipimus, quatenus, sine fermento mundanæ scientiæ, doceatis theologicam puritatem, non adulterantes verbum Dei philosophorum figmentis sed contenti terminis a patribus institutis, mentes auditorum vestrorum fructu cœlestis eloquii saginetis, ut hauriant a fontibus Salvatoris. The passage is cited by Mosheim. Cent. XIII. p. ii. chap. iii. Brucker (Hist. Crit. Philosoph. p. ii. Pars. ii. lib. ii. c. iii.) cites the following passage from a bull of the same pope published in 1231.- Magistri vero et Scholares Theologiæ . nec philosophos se ostentent, sed satagant fieri Theodidacti-nec loquantur in lingua populi linguam Hebræam cum asotica confundentes, sed de illis tantum in scholis quæstionibus disputent, quæ per libros theologicos et sanctorum patrum tractatus valeant terminari.' But the system was extremely popular with the students; their ardour was aided by the edicts of Frederic II.; and the system of Aristotle, superior to all edicts, was destined to yield only to the predominance of another system, that of polite literature and natural reason. See Petrarch's complaints of the dishonour brought on theology, by the profane and loquacious dialecticians' of his day. De Remed. Utriusq. Fortun, and Tiraboschi, vol. v. p. i. lib. ii.

and the rules which they imposed were drawn from the code of Aristotle. At this time arose Thomas Aquinas, the angelic doctor,' the Coryphæus of the disciples of the Stagyrite. He was descended from an illustrious family and born in the neighbourhood of Naples, in the year 1224. He entered very young into the Dominican Order, and studied at Paris and at Cologne, under Albert the Great, a German scholastic, the dictator of his day*, St. Thomas (he was in due season canonized by John XXII.) died at the early age of fifty; but the writings which he has left behind him compose seventeen folio volumes. The most important among them are his Commentaries on Aristotle, and his Sum of Theology. But they likewise contain most voluminous observations on various books of the Old and New Testament, and investigations of many theological, metaphysical, and moral questions. They were studied in those days with insatiable avidity. They are now confined to the shelves of a few profound students, whence they will never again descend. It might seem harsh indeed to say of them, that they are of less account in the eyes of a sage, than the toil of a single husbandman, who multiplies the gifts of the Creator and supplies the food of his brethren †.' But there is room for doubt whether any important practical benefits were ever derived from them; whether the reflections which they awakened were generally profitable either to the present condition of man, or to his future prospects. And we certainly cannot question, that the spirit of contentious disceptation, which they nourished and propagated, was injurious to one of the best principles of religion, religious forbearance and universal charity ‡.

Contemporary with St. Thomas Aquinas was another celebrated ornament of the church, St. Bonaventura. He was a native of Tuscany §, and entered in the year 1243 St. Bonaventura. into the Order of the Franciscans. He likewise com

pleted his studies at Paris, and with such success, as to acquire the title of the Seraphic Doctor. In the year 1256 he was appointed General of his Order, and died at no very advanced age. His works are less voluminous than those of Aquinas, and bear the stamp of a very different character. The tendency of his mind was rather towards the extreme of mysticism, than that of minute and frivolous disputation. It rose into the regions of spiritual aspiration; it courted no intellectual triumphs and

* This honour was, however, contested by our countryman, Alexander Hales, a Franciscan, who taught philosophy at Paris, and acquired the formidable title of The Irrefragable Doctor. Another and more attractive appellation was The Fountain of Life.' He entered into the Franciscan Order in 1222, and died at Paris twenty-three years afterwards. His most important work was a Commentary on the Book of the Sentences,' composed by the order of Innocent IV.

The words are Gibbon's-applied to a different subject.

Fontenelle, we believe, (see Tiraboschi, Stor. Lett. Ital., vol. iv. p. i. lib. ii.) has somewhere said of St. Thomas Aquinas, that in another age and under other circumstances he would have been Des Cartes.' No one ever questioned his genius and immense erudition; or that he has intermixed some sensible remarks with the fashionable sophistry, only we should not value him too highly for this. A great mind should oppose the evil principles of the time-at least it should lend no aid to them. Roger Bacon in the same age acted a nobler part.

The Italians are justly proud of the success of their countrymen in the schools of Paris. Besides the three eminent ecclesiastics mentioned in the text, they enumerate, among the Parisian Professors of the same age, John of Parma, a Franciscan; Egidio da Roma, an Augustinian; Agostino Trionfo of Ancona; and Jacopo da Viterbo. Through the following century the series continued, though with diminished brilliancy-and then it ceased.

Both these doctors are praised for professional disinterestedness. Bonaventura is related to have refused the archbishoprick of York; Aquinas that of Naples, as well as other dignities.

despised the abuse of reason. By this quality he has obtained, and in a great degree merited, the eulogies of Gerson*; who has pronounced (and the authority is respectable) that his works surpass in usefulness all those of his age, in regard to the spirit of the love of God and Christian devotion which speaks in him; that he is profound without being prolix, subtle without being curious, eloquent without vanity, ardent without inflation. There are many (says the critic) who teach the accuracy of doctrine; there are others who preach devotion; there are few who in their writings combine both these objects. But they are united by St. Bonaventura, whose devotion is instructive, and whose doctrine inspires devotion. The celebrated controversy between the Realists and the Nominalists †, of which the origin was not long posterior to the general study of Aristotle, was continued with no great intermission till the days of Luther. The fourteenth century was particularly disturbed by its violence. Two of the leading champions of that age were John Duns Scotus ‡, and his disciple William of Occam. The former had ventured boldly to impugn some of the positions and conclusions of St. Thomas Aquinas, and his opinions found many advocates. These formed the party of the Nominalists; and since, in the political disputes of the day, they favoured the cause of the emperor, they fell under the spiritual denunciations of the Vatican. Again, the Dominicans for the most part rallied round the banners of Aquinas and the pope, while the Franciscans commonly defended the tenets of Scotus, a member of their own order. Thus the controversy assumed a new name, as its character became more rancorous; and the ambitious polemics of that and of succeeding ages severally enlisted among the conflicting ranks of the Thomists and the Scotists. The principal points of theological difference between these renowned adversaries, were the nature of the divine co-operation with the human will,' and the measure of divine grace' necessary for salvation. These were subjects which have employed the devout in every age, and provoked the perpetual exercise of reason. But the production, which was more effectual, perhaps, than any other in exalting the reputation of Scotus, was his demonstration of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. The Dominicans maintained that the holy Virgin was not exempt from the stain of original sin; the deeper devotion, or the bolder hypocrisy of the Franciscan supported the contrary opinion. That either party was right, it is beyond the capacity of man to ascertain; and it is clear, that both were equally absurd, in as far as both were equally positive. Yet, will it be believed that this inscrutable and most frivolous question formed an important subject of difference in the Roman Catholic church-a subject deemed not unworthy of the cognizance of popes and of councils-for the space of more than two hundred years?

*See Dupin. Nouv. Biblioth. Cent. XIII., chap. iv.

Roscellinus, a native of Brittany, has the repute of having invented these opinions. He was opposed by Anselm, and compelled to abjure before a Council at Soissons, in 1092. He seems also to have incurred some danger from a popular tumult. He was exiled from France, and then passed a short time in England, where he gave great offence by censuring the concubinage of the clergy, attested by their numerous illegitimate children, and by calumniating (as is said) Archbishop Anselm. The writers of the Hist. Litt. de la France treat him throughout as a heretic-but none of his writings (if any ever existed)

now remain.

This-the subtle-doctor died in the year 1308. He was a native of Dunse in Scotland, and a Franciscan.

§ See Mosheim, Cent. XIV., p. ii., chap. iii.

END OF PART THE FOURTH.